Knife Edge Angle

[ripnbst]

Some of you knife gurus that hang out on here. What have you found in your experiences to be an optimal blade grind angle?

I am looking at picking up some knives before next white tail rifle season and was wondering what angles they should be sharpened to once I get them. That being said, I don't have any of the tools yet for really putting/keeping a nice edge on the knives. I just recently began becoming interested in knives. Any recommendations to someone just getting started would be appreciated as well.

 

[OKWalker]

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[otis147]

different manufacturers use different angles. 20 degrees per side(40 inclusive) is pretty common, and can be plenty sharp.

 

[Coded-Dude]

Cue EZB in 5...
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[ez bake]

That's funny - I just broke out the Wicked Edge tonight to touch up some of the knives I'm selling (sad as that makes me).

Edge geometry and proper angles on primary/secondary/micro/(and in some cases, tertiary-micro) bevel are a lot more complicated when you figure in the grind/shape/thickness of a blade (as well as steel/heat-treat/tempering).

Manufacturers will ship knives with certain edge-geometry and angles (most of that info is available on their websites) but you can always re-profile. Probably the best thing to do at first is just learn to maintain the edge that comes on it (and then move on to adding/maintaining a micro-bevel). If you're dealing with a thick grind, but soft steel, you won't want to thin the edge out too badly (but if you're dealing with a thinner grind and very hard material, you might want to lay the edge back farther).

Basically, you're looking for edge stability - you want to be able to sharpen it, but you want that edge to last as long as possible (and you want it to be easy to maintain and bring back to sharp again).

S30V is a good steel to talk about here - you can't thin it out too much (it does not do well with little to no support behinds the edge-bevel), but even when you find that perfect edge - it most likely won't last if you just have one edge-bevel (S30V is notorious for dulling into a "working edge" within a day of decent use). You can actually circumvent this with a micro-bevel - it adds some stability to it and also makes it pretty easy to just strop back to sharp.

D2 is a completely different steel. You can just use a single edge-bevel and really you can leave a toothy edge on it and D2 will actually stay sharp (and can even get sharper depending on use).

Practice makes perfect. A good rule of thumb is avoid recurve blades if you're just learning to sharpen (unless you're a sadist) and stick with an easy-to-sharpen steel when learning and move on to harder stuff. Cheaper kitchen knives are a good place to start - they also typically come with soft steel, which will teach you not to use too much force when sharpening against a stone - that's one of the most important lessons in sharpening is force=bad, repeated light strokes=good.

Here is some good info:

Basics of knives:
http://www.spyderco.com/edge-u-cation/knifeanatomy.php

Steel info:
http://www.spyderco.com/edge-u-cation/index.php?item=3

A good video on Micro-Bevels:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmriTrx_qZo

Good info on blade geometry and edge geometry:
http://www.knifeart.com/bladgeomfaqb.html

 

[willystruck]

EZ's info is great! With the equipment I use, I put a 27 degree bevel on a knife used for most handi work such hunting knives and every day carry knives. That includes a final 2 degree micro bevel. We've found this to provide the longest lasting edge under normal conditions for these types of knives. Kitchen knives are given a 22 degree bevel and extremely thick bladed knives a 32 degree bevel.
These edges last a long time and can be stropped to maintain the edge as long as it's not too far gone.

 

[ripnbst]

So as long as I dont let the blade get too far worn stropping occasionally when needed should keep it sharp?

Most of the knives I have been looking at are 1095 steel. Was also thinking 22 deg angle would be a good angle. Was not aware that blade edges had multiple "facets" or grind angles.

 

[Coded-Dude]

My blades are 420HC steel(Bucks), and I use Smiths tri-stone rocks(a little oil for the finer stones). I started off using the angle guide, but pretty muchy eyeball it now. I should probably work on a more precise angle, but they stay sharp and do what I need them to.

 

[spd67]

So as long as I dont let the blade get too far worn stropping occasionally when needed should keep it sharp?

Most of the knives I have been looking at are 1095 steel. Was also thinking 22 deg angle would be a good angle. Was not aware that blade edges had multiple "facets" or grind angles.

Stropping will keep the knife pretty sharp for a while but it will eventually need to be honed on a stone, diamond, or ceramic. A 22 Degree angle may or may not be good for 1095 it all depends on how thin the stock is and the hardness and heat treat of the steel. For a good quality 1095 22 degrees would probable be fine but the thinness of that angle will probably have to be honed more often than say a 25-30 degree angle with a secondary micro bevel.

 

[spd67]

I would tell you that if your interested in knives and sharpening you will need a set of good progressive grit stones (coarse, medium, and fine) Arkansas works good for most knives. I would also invest in a few diamond stones as well, because some of the newer steels like s30v, D2, S90v, ect.. are really hard to sharpen on conventional stones. I would also get a set of ceramic croc sticks and a strop with some good stropping compound. Don't go cheap on your equipment it does make a difference. If you can spring for something like a Wicked Edge or other quality guided edge system you will save yourself some headache. I would also say for you to get some cheaper kershaw and gerber knives and practice dulling, and sharpening them with whatever stone stetup you have before you move on to more expensive and exotic knives. Do some research on Youtube and you will find a wealth of sharpening videos there.

Good luck, and the best advise I can give you is practice, practice, practice, because you will not get it right the first time or even the first 10 or so times but you will get better and better until it becomes second nature.